On the Surface

I helped to deliver flowers to a wedding. The "Chapel" wasn't a real church, but it was made to resemble one. So, having a little time on my hands, I took a look around.

I discovered that the weathered stones were acually veneer stuck on breeze-blocks; the columns were just for show - they didn't reach to the roof so they didn't support anything; behind the scenes rebar protruded from unfinished cement work. In terms of decoration, the interior was a cross between bordello and Disney. Yard sale architecture, a collection of unrelated oddments, gave an illusion of antiquity. In the entrance, a fake icon showed fake Greek on an open book. An angel stood nearby, looking for all the world like a refugee from a cemetery.

A large room, with Mexican tiles on the floor, had a large, Italianate altar against the far wall "in the Eurpoean style" (according to the brochure). Candles were everywhere, on low walls, in sconces, and, wrapped in ivy, upon the altar. The coordinator was not satisfied with the effect. "There's something missing on the altar," she said. "How about a cross?" I suggested, and was met with a glower.

Still snooping I ascended stone steps that led nowhere. Half-way up, for effect, a stained glass window was set, rather crudely, into a wall and illuminated from behind. It had obviously once graced a church. Its subject was a palm branch emerging from a golden crown. Beneath the crown were the names of those in whose memory the window had been given.

At least the ceremony was Christian. Scripture was read. Prayers were said. God's blessing was invoked. But, the setting wasn't real. It was a metaphor for superficiality. It was all effect, all surface. Is this the future? What happened to community? Will postmodern spirituality require nothing more than a stage setting for the sacred?